[7.3/10] I watched this one with subtitles first before I read that the consensus is the dubbed version, so I rewatched it that way, and it was an interesting exercise! I definitely feel like I got more of the character and texture coming through with the dubbed version, and helped me to immerse myself in the world a little more. That said, there’s something about hearing the lines spoken in the native language of the author that has power too. I will probably stick with the dubbed version given the consensus, but it made for an interesting double introduction to Cowboy Bebop.
I mostly appreciate the style here. The loose jazz, the extreme character designs and alternatingly halting and fluid motion, the jarring yet poignant use of silence, the blood a neo-noir trappings, the western scène à faire mixed with a science-fiction setting. It has a sense of place and a distinctive flavor, which is a good start for any series.
I’m less enamored with the characters so far. Spike is a pretty generic rogue, a little too reckless for his own good but cunning enough to get by despite that. Jet is a fairly standard tough guy second, with a little more charm. The other hangers on here like the Indigenous fortune teller or the horny barflies are vaguely uncomfortable. And the tastefully-named, drug-using gangster, Asimov, is a pretty standard archetype.
Only the gangster’s girlfriend, Kartina, has a little more distinctive about her. Even she conforms to some standard noir tropes, with a certain sad femme fatale quality and a doomed dream. But her “pregnant belly” full of contraband, her willingness to kill her accomplice when she realizes he has no will to see their dream through, and the tragic poetic imagery of the vial spilling out from her dress like blood as she dies in space, gives her a memorable debut no one else can match.
Still, this one has potential in style alone, and hopefully there’s time to develop Spike, Jet, and what I assume will be other members of the cast better over time. Setting out a pair of bounty hunters to hop across the galaxy and encounter cases of the week is a good premise, and the jazzy rhythms of this one give enough reason to keep coming back to see who’ll they’ll trade blows and bullets with next time.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-01-11T02:58:01Z
[7.3/10] I watched this one with subtitles first before I read that the consensus is the dubbed version, so I rewatched it that way, and it was an interesting exercise! I definitely feel like I got more of the character and texture coming through with the dubbed version, and helped me to immerse myself in the world a little more. That said, there’s something about hearing the lines spoken in the native language of the author that has power too. I will probably stick with the dubbed version given the consensus, but it made for an interesting double introduction to Cowboy Bebop.
I mostly appreciate the style here. The loose jazz, the extreme character designs and alternatingly halting and fluid motion, the jarring yet poignant use of silence, the blood a neo-noir trappings, the western scène à faire mixed with a science-fiction setting. It has a sense of place and a distinctive flavor, which is a good start for any series.
I’m less enamored with the characters so far. Spike is a pretty generic rogue, a little too reckless for his own good but cunning enough to get by despite that. Jet is a fairly standard tough guy second, with a little more charm. The other hangers on here like the Indigenous fortune teller or the horny barflies are vaguely uncomfortable. And the tastefully-named, drug-using gangster, Asimov, is a pretty standard archetype.
Only the gangster’s girlfriend, Kartina, has a little more distinctive about her. Even she conforms to some standard noir tropes, with a certain sad femme fatale quality and a doomed dream. But her “pregnant belly” full of contraband, her willingness to kill her accomplice when she realizes he has no will to see their dream through, and the tragic poetic imagery of the vial spilling out from her dress like blood as she dies in space, gives her a memorable debut no one else can match.
Still, this one has potential in style alone, and hopefully there’s time to develop Spike, Jet, and what I assume will be other members of the cast better over time. Setting out a pair of bounty hunters to hop across the galaxy and encounter cases of the week is a good premise, and the jazzy rhythms of this one give enough reason to keep coming back to see who’ll they’ll trade blows and bullets with next time.